Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Creative Support is an experienced provider of services for people who are on the Autistic Spectrum. We have developed a number of innovative, high quality services that enable people with autism to lead happy and fulfilling lives. All of our services are registered with the CQC (Care Quality Commission, formerly CSCI – Commission for Social Care Inspection) and are delivered in a person centred way designed to promote independence and personal development.

The services that we deliver to people with autism are designed around individual needs. For this reason no two services look the same and we are proud of the way we have been able to tailor support packages and the living environment around the specific requirements of our service users (and their families).

Understanding the individual and their support needs
Creative Support knows the importance of understanding the personalities and preferences of the people that we support. When we are putting a support package together we feel it is essential to work closely with the people that know the person best. Often this is the person’s own family but can equally include carers, professionals and friends. The professionals we often work with when delivering autism specific services include Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, GP’s, Behavioural Specialists, Social Workers, Psychologists and Psychiatrists. We feel it is important to recognise and make use of the unique skills that each and every person can bring as part of a team approach.

We are also aware that to understand the individual person we need to understand how the sensory world and their environment affects their wellbeing and happiness. This is a key part of our work in autism services.

Transition & Person Centred Planning
Coping with change is difficult for most people but especially for people who are on the autistic spectrum. When we are supporting people with autism to make a significant move in their life we place a great deal of importance on detailed planning to achieve a high quality, smooth transition. We have experience of supporting people to make the transition from living within the family home, residential school placements and ‘out of county’ placements into a new support setting.

Person Centred Planning (PCP) plays a key role in ensuring that each person’s support needs, dreams and goals are being met. Within autism services we feel this is a particularly important process as services users often have difficulty in clearly expressing their preferences and wishes. We use a range of PCP tools and specialist communication techniques so that all individuals have a personalised plan and service in place whatever their level of communication and need.

Communication
At Creative Support we deliver our services to people with autism in a way that recognises and respects that people communicate in different ways. We understand the importance of meeting individual communication needs and we train our staff to do so. Within our services it is common for communication aids such as Makaton, British Sign Language, PECS (Picture Exchange Communication Systems), Objects of Reference, TEACCH schedules and communication passports to be used to enable our support staff to communicate with our service users positively and effectively. This ensures that they provide the support the service users need and want.

Recruiting and training the staff team
Creative Support provides opportunities for service users and their families to get involved in the recruitment of the staff team to make sure we recruit the right people. We employ people who have the positive values, personalities, skills and knowledge to provide effective support to people with autism. Once in post we recognise that all staff need on-going training to increase their knowledge and understanding of autism. All staff undertake the NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) in Health and Social Care and the LDQ (Learning Disability Qualification) and also access autism specific training and personal development programmes on an ongoing basis.

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Creative Support Limited is a Registered Society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (Register Number 27440R) and an exempt charity, whose registered office is at Creative Support Ltd, Wellington House, 131 Wellington Road, Stockport SK1 3TS